When can we all just go digital? Although I much prefer to read print, the pain in the ass of having to lug around and keep track of books is really grating on my nerves. I don't have enough space to keep everything I need in one place at one time (yes, library carrels would be a perfect solution, but as a colleague has demonstrated, our library isn't designed for people who need books, use books, or intend to do actual work), and the cost/fees are driving me through the roof.
Which leads to a question to which I hope to get some answers: has anyone used Questia and is it worth is? precursory search shows that it has some material, but not as much as melvyl (which I can't currently use b/c my freakin' account is frozen b/c of the $160 in fees... bitter, bitter girl). There's a lot of older stuff on there, but most of that I can find in google books. If you have experience/an opinion I'd love to hear it in the comments.
Finally, another gripe about being at a small "research" university: funding. Specifically, I'm sick and tired of seeing fellowships that are Mellon-funded, sponsored by the research libraries and archives I really need to get to, but only available to specific university students. In this case: USC, UCLA, UCB. Everyone says it's easier to get the big grants once you can snag at least one. Well a number of the big name grants for grads in my field are tied between one research institution (Huntington, Clark, IHR London) and one academic institution (USC, UCLA, UCB). They have grants for people like me - year long writing and research grants with prestigious names, all restricted to their own university students working in the same pigeon-holed field I'm in. How many early modern historians of English print culture can there really be at USC? Maybe, maybe 15? How many of those are ABD and looking for research/writing money? I bet it's fewer than the 300+ who apply for the nationally open grants and fellowships (with suckers like me). So they get to face very small local competition for big desirable grants - and once they get one are more likely to win the big money on the national level b/c their academic product has been proven to be worth investing in. The disparity between opportunities afforded to those at schools with connections and those like me is becoming more and more apparent the longer I'm in my program. It makes a difference when you're trying to finish and have to constantly TA, and when you're on the job market.
Tweak had Questia. You may want to check with her to see how she liked it.
ReplyDeleteYes, it is b.s., I would have to agree. I couldn't get language money to study the supposedly necessary languages to complete my degree. What pissed me off was when I got to the language school and discovered all the recipients of the big named grants were from Yale, Columbia, UCB, and Stanford and therefore didn't actually need to work at the same time as taking classes. But worst of all, to be frank, most of their project topics sucked beyond belief. Like anyone really needs more China-centered monograph bricks that < .0000001% of the population cares about.
ReplyDeleteIt makes no sense to me at all.
Ugh. Those are lame things.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of the funding cuts, it's most visible effect for me has definitely been the degeneration of ILL from a fast and reliable system to a molasses-slow and sketchy one. It makes working on a dissertation harder.